Thursday, November 29, 2012

Jenna Stoeber says the Adventure Time character Princess Bubblegum, who is both a princess and a scientist, is an inspiring model for "a complex, intelligent, kind, girly, strong heroine that any science would be proud to have."

David Cay Johnston says the FCC needs to deal with the near-monopolies that have formed in the telecommunications industry, which are affecting TV and internet service as well: "The result of having such sweeping control of the communications terrain, naturally, is that there is little incentive for [companies] to lower prices, make improvements to service or significantly invest in new technologies and infrastructure. And that, in turn, leaves American consumers with a major disadvantage compared with their counterparts in the rest of the world."

Wednesday, November 28, 2012

Fox chairman Kevin Reilly says the TV industry needs to do more to adjust to changing viewer habits: "The one-size-fits-all nature of the business for the most part worked well for 50 years, but now there is an evolution."

Brian Lowry says that while the landscape of TV is changing quickly thanks to DVRs and audience fragmentation, low ratings will still do in a network show: "DVRs and diminished expectations have complicated the calculus in deciding what survives, but the wispy latticework of spin, hope, intuition and testing (now there's an appropriate anagram) has only slightly altered the ad-supported world's fundamental principles."

Carina Chocano notes that while women actually age in real life (something I can confirm first-hand), that doesn't appear much on television; she quotes from a documentary: "women in their teens, 20s and 30s are 39 percent of the population, yet are 71 percent of women on TV. Women 40 and older are 47 percent of the population, yet are 26 percent of women on TV."

Two and a Half Men star Angus T. Jones thinks his show is a corrupting influence. Alyssa Rosenberg would like to hear more from Jones: "How did Two and a Half Men affect Jones’ views of women? What did the show’s perspective teach him about what it means to be a good man, and a successful man, if the two ideas are different? When he interacts with fans of the show, do they seem to be taking away different messages than the ones he thought he grew up conveying?" James Poniewozik also adds thoughts, as does Josef Adalian. Andrew Wallenstein has advice for CBS.

Will Richmond wonders if the decision to release House of Cards all at once will pay off: "On the surface, delighting its subscribers like this might seem like a good approach for Netflix, but I wonder if it really serves Netflix's business interests."

I will soon be compiling a Best Good TVeets of 2012, but there were a whole lot of them in 2012, so I can't do it alone. If you would like to help me out by looking through an assigned set of Good TVeets posts and picking out the best tweets, send me an email at cbecker1 at nd.edu. The more who help out, the less labor for all involved, so give back to the TVeeters by pitching in!

Hamish Mackenzie describes a cross-platform app designed by a Swedish start-up: "Open an app on your phone and start watching live TV with all the channels you’d get from cable. Pause halfway through and switch to your iPad, then pick up exactly where you left off. Scoot back in time to watch a show you missed from yesterday, then skip to the end with the drag of a finger. Sit on the couch and browse curated lists of programs on your smart TV. Watch the sports channel on the bus while on your way to work. And only pay month to month for the whole service."

John Doyle says there's at least one reason why numerous shows are failing this season: "Why do shows fail? Well, if there was an easy answer, no shows would ever fail. There are no easy answers. But here’s a theory for network TV right now: There are just too many shows."

Jaime Weinman analyzes the problem with Tuesday nights: "There’s a specific problem on Tuesday that a lot of people predicted when the network schedules were announced: Fox, NBC and ABC all had very similar comedies going up against each other at 9 p.m., and they were almost certain to cannibalize each other’s ratings."

Wednesday, November 21, 2012

Natalie Abrams delves into the fast pacing of shows like Homeland: "Suffice it to say, the fall TV season has been full-steam ahead, with series diving straight into some of their biggest mysteries at such a breakneck speed, it has left fans wondering — and anticipating -- how the shows will top these events for the remainder of the season. Does this make speed the new suspense on television?"

Peter Kafka says Google Fiber's new rollout offers a glimpse at the future of TV: "One screen, many inputs, and a guide that simply lets you find whatever you want to watch, without having to worry about the source."

Sharon Waxman investigates what Peter Ligouri might do as new CEO of Tribune Co.: "Liguori’s resume suggests that Tribune will focus on its television channels, which are also the largest source of revenue for the $3 billion company, although my insider says some of those channels are also likely to be sold."

BigTVFan explores the curious case of major ratings declines, especially at ABC: "Nielsen numbers go up or down regularly, with their movements sometimes defying explanation, but surveying ABCs drops this past month – which included two big Award shows losing 3 million viewers and a full ratings point year to year and big shows dropping almost a point week to week, and its hard not to see that there is something amiss overall with the Nielsen numbers for ABC."

Maria Elena Fernandez notices the women of Modern Family (and one man) getting skinnier as the show continues: "We have seen this story play out before: actresses succumbing to the pressures of a Hollywood standard of beauty that sometimes becomes unhealthy to live up to."

Stephen Falk, showrunner for Next Caller, a show that was cancelled before it even got started, shares honest feelings about how the news hit him and offers advice for writers, including an appeal for comedy rooms to hire women writers.

With fans itching to start a "Save Last Resort" campaign, Lynette Rice questions if such campaigns have any impact, while a veteran net programmer says the only thing that does save a show is viewers watching a show within three days, ads included (though he doesn't add that this only matters for Nielsen households).

Jonathan D. Fitzgerald proposes that the GOP's vision of traditional family values stands at odds with what television typically depicts today: "Slowly over time, the family sitcoms that Americans have been watching for decades effectively transformed what was once the culturally reinforced American ideal family into a relic of the not-so-distant past."

Chris Baker thinks the new Wii U console could revolutionize how we watch TV: "The Wii U may be the best multiscreen viewing device yet invented. Even more important, it will serve as an accessible entry point for millions of people who can’t wrap their heads around today’s confusing array of video-on-demand services."

Toni Fitzgerald details the drooping ratings for the networks this fall: "They’ve combined for an 11.8 18-49 rating in the first seven weeks of the season, according to Nielsen, compared to a 13.3 at this point last year."